


Riku and Sora Save Christmas

by Rikudera



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, Gen, M/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Secret Santa, consider the coconut, khsecretsanta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 18:37:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9136597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikudera/pseuds/Rikudera
Summary: Riku's not feeling the Christmas spirit this year, so Sora helps him out the best way he knows how.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sylvermyth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylvermyth/gifts).



> For silvermyth for this year's Kingdom Hearts Secret Santa. Hope you've had a good holiday season!
> 
> Many thanks as always to mostlyharmless for a quick Christmas miracle beta :)

"Riku, I'm finally done!"

That's the only warning Riku gets before Sora tackles him from behind, throwing his arms around Riku's neck and letting his bookbag smack into Riku's ribs.

"S-Sora!" Riku plants his feet to hold up the sudden dead weight at his back and does his best to not suffocate. Taking the hint, Sora lets one of his arms go, still keeping the other hooked around Riku's neck.

"I finished the last makeup exam!" Sora says, grinning. "I think I even passed this time, too."

"Congratulations on defeating math," Riku responds, smiling back. "Just try not to strangle me next time, okay?"

It's incredibly reassuring, Riku decides, to have the only exam they needed to worry about be on math. With math, you’re either right or wrong.

No worrying about anybody dying or being kidnapped or running into handy personifications of all your past failures in the middle of a math exam, either.

"Heheh, sorry," Sora says. He slides his arm down to hold Riku's hand, and the two of them start walking from the school entrance to Sora's house. "But now we're all finally on Christmas vacation; you, me, and Kairi. Isn't that great?"

"It's pretty nice," Riku says. Sora scrunches his nose at him. "I'm looking forward to not having to wear my school uniform for a couple weeks, at least."

"Rikuuu. Where's your holiday spirit?" Sora swings their hands in mock petulance. "You're not going to get anything from Santa this year if you aren't festive enough."

“You're saying that like I ever got anything from Santa before,” Riku retorts.

“Well, of _course_  you won't get presents if you keep telling other people that Santa doesn’t exist,” Sora says. He looks up at Riku, pouting. “And when other people believe you, they don't get any presents from Santa, either, even when that person _personally rescues_ Santa Claus from the Heartless and saves Christmas.”

Riku feels himself tense involuntarily.

"...Right, I almost forgot about that," he murmurs, looking away.

"Riku?" Sora's voice drops its volume accordingly, too. Riku takes a breath and looks back at Sora.

"I'm probably not going to get anything from Santa anyway, right?" He tries to smile, but doesn't quite make it. Maybe saving Santa from the Heartless got you back in his good graces from things you said when you were eight, but some things put you on the naughty list permanently, didn't they?

"That's not true!" Sora frowns. "All you have to do is believe in Santa, and he knows. Santa sees everything. He told me so himself."

All the more reason for Riku to be on the naughty list. Arguing about it is only going to make Sora more upset, though.

"...I'll try," Riku says, though he's still pretty sure it isn't going to work.

"It's not really about trying..." Sora responds, "You just do it, and he knows..." He's still frowning a little. "We need to get you into the Christmas spirit more."

"Then let's finish getting home," Riku says, "so we can get rid of our school stuff and work on this year's ornaments."

"Oh!" Sora blinks, then grins. "Yeah! Let's go."

~*~*~*~

A little while later, Riku is with Sora and Kairi at Sora's house, getting things ready for Christmas. Sora is putting the artificial palm tree together, Riku is draining and cutting the coconuts for orament-making, and Kairi is scooping out the meat to put in the Christmas cake later. After the tree is together and the cake ingredients are in the fridge for later, they all shave and glue the coconuts back together, then get out the rest of the supplies to carve and paint their ornaments for this year. Riku looks at his three coconuts - one for each of their houses' Christmas trees - and tries to think of what to paint.

So many things have happened since the last time the three of them made Christmas ornaments together. Is there any one thing to carve or draw that would even come close to representing the past few years? The worlds are finally at peace, but it hadn't been anything resembling easy. Riku can't help but dwell on the hardships and sacrifices everyone had made, sometimes. It was worth it - there really is no better feeling than knowing that Sora and Kairi are safe - but Riku knows he's been deeply affected by what happened, probably permanently.

But how to put all those feelings into only three ornaments? Riku has no idea.

"..ku? Riku?"

"Huh?" Riku blinks and looks up from the table. Sora and Kairi are both looking at him.

"Are you okay?" Sora asks. Riku isn't sure how to answer that.

"...I'm still trying to think of what to make," he replies. That's accurate, at least. He looks over briefly to what the other two are working on; Sora's in the middle of his first coconut, and Kairi's nearly done with hers. Riku has exactly zilch. "It's been awhile since the last time we had Christmas. A lot of stuff happened."

"But-" Sora starts to protest, face falling. Riku tries to hide his wince, and doesn't really succeed. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything.

"It's okay," Kairi says, smiling with her eyes still sad at the corners. "We don't have to finish these right away."

"Oh..." Sora says. "Well, if you want to do these tomorrow, or the day after, we can start making the cakes instead."

"I appreciate the thought, but... I'm not really in a Christmas mood yet," Riku says. "Sorry." They're both being incredibly patient, and he knows he doesn't deserve it. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Okay." Sora sounds so _disappointed_. Riku's ruining the Christmas feeling for everyone, isn't he? Maybe if he cleans everything on the table up really fast, he can just go home and get his head back on right. That'll keep him from upsetting Sora and Kairi even more than he already has.

"Sorry," Riku says again, though he knows very well that just saying it doesn't help anything.

~*~*~*~

Later that night, Riku hears someone knocking on the window of his room. When he goes over to the window, Sora is outside. He's floating.

“Sora?”

“Come on, let's go,” Sora says, grinning and taking Riku’s hand. “I wanna show you something.”

“I'm gonna fall,” Riku protests.

“Then just sneak out how you usually do,” Sora replies, “and then I'll show you.”

Riku considers this, and decides that a clandestine midnight adventure with Sora is probably more fun than staying home and feeling sorry for himself.

“...Alright.” Riku climbs down the side of his house, still in his pajamas, and Sora hovers beside him until he reaches the ground. “Now what?”

“Now, we're gonna go to the play island,” Sora says, “and then you're gonna close your eyes so I can show you the surprise. And no arguing, this is important!”

“Lead the way, then,” Riku smiles.

Once they're at the play island, Sora produces a blindfold from his pocket and puts it on Riku.

“Really?” Riku asks. “You know I can still see some stuff with a blindfold on, right?”

“That's to remind you to close your eyes,” Sora says, taking Riku by the hand and starting to lead him into the trees. “So if you want to keep it a surprise, you have to keep your eyes closed.”

“If you say so,” Riku says, keeping his eyes shut as instructed.

“And no peeking!” Sora says.

“I won't peek.”

“And now the earplugs,” Sora says, once they've walked a little.

“Seriously?”

“It's very important,” Sora insists. “I'll take them out for you once we get there.” He tugs Riku’s head down.

“Once we get where?” Riku asks. But Sora puts the plugs in his ears before he gives an answer. Then, a quick peck on Riku’s cheek, and they're walking again.

It's much harder for Riku to tell where they are on the island this way, but when Sora steps his feet up onto something metal, he starts to get an inkling of where they might be.

“Are we on the gummi ship?” Riku asks. He's met with silence, but Sora leads him to a chair and starts strapping him in. Riku can recognize the ship’s chairs by feel. “Where are we going?” Sora puts a finger to Riku’s lips, and Riku falls silent. The finger is momentarily replaced by a quickly stolen kiss, and then Sora is gone for several minutes, presumably to punch their destination into the ship’s navigation system.

The warp kicks in, pushing Riku back against his seat, and then after another minute, the ship stops.

“Sora?” Riku calls. Half a minute later, Sora squeezes his hand, and then he's gone again. “Are we landing the ship, now?” Another couple minutes, and Sora’s unstrapping him from his seat and walking him out of the ship.

The moment they leave the ship, Riku feels… different. He can feel his bangs shaggy against the front of his blindfold again, and the earplugs seem to have fallen out of his ears. Keeping his eyes closed is kicking his sense of smell into overdrive, and from the back of his pants is… a tail?

“Sora?” Riku can smell Sora right next to him, and around them, old dirt, candy, and something else that smells strangely delicious moving closer to the two of them. Sora also smells like… blood? “Sora, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I'm fine, I’m right here,” Sora says, putting a hand gently on Riku’s arm. “I'm just looking at your costume.

“Costume?” Riku asks. “You smell like blood.”

“It's okay,” Sora laughs. “That's part of the costume.” Riku doesn't get it. “Stop making that frowny face! You'd crash the ship if we were still on it.”

“Why do I have a tail?” Riku asks. Sora laughs again.

“Okay, okay. You can take the blindfold off now.”

Riku takes the blindfold off. They're in the middle of a graveyard. Sora looks like a vampire. He's got fangs and a little cape and everything.

“Happy Halloween,” Sora grins, pointing at Riku. Riku looks down at himself. His hands and bare feet are clawed and covered in hair, and his clothes are ripped up. “You make a good werewolf, Riku.”

“That explains the tail, I guess,” Riku replies.

“You've got wolf ears, too,” Sora says, tugging Riku down a little so he can poke them.

“Hey, that tickles.” Riku bats Sora’s hand away and stands back up. “But I don't get it; isn't it Christmas time, not Halloween?” Sora laughs again, trying to cover his giggle with his own clawed hand.

Riku… the wind calls. Riku blinks, and looks around for the source of the noise.

Sora… Riku… the graves behind him whisper. Riku spins around again. There's no one there, but Riku can smell something creeping towards them.

There’s no Christmas or Sandy Claws here… The voice is behind him again! Sora muffles more giggles behind his hands.

Only…

“The Pumpkin King! Boo!” A giant skeleton man jumps out at Riku from behind a mausoleum, his bony fingers reaching right for Riku!

“Ah!” Riku can't help but shout, jumping.

“Happy Halloween!” The skeleton grins.

“Happy Halloween, Jack!” Sora waves back. “Riku, this is Jack Skellington. He's in charge of everything to do with Halloween.”

“Hello, Riku,” Jack grins, voice perky. “It's always fun to scare new friends.” Being made of bones, he smells delicious to Riku’s werewolf nose, which is more than a little strange.

“Nice to meet you,” Riku smiles wryly back.

“It's so good to hear you found your friend, Sora,” Jack says.

“Uh huh,” Sora beams back.

“But did I hear you say something about Christmas?” Jack asks.

“It's almost Christmas on the world we’re from,” Riku replies.

“Riku needs a little help getting into the Christmas spirit this year,” Sora says, “so I thought bringing him to Christmas Town might be good.” Well, it's kind of embarrassing when Sora says it like _that_. But maybe seeing a town full of nothing but Christmas things will get Riku more into the season this year.

“Oh, are you going to see Sandy Claws, too?” Jack asks. “Maybe I can tag along and help Riku, too.”

“Oh, uh…” Sora hedges.

“I'll stay out of trouble!” Jack says. “This is an important Christmas mission, after all.”

“...Okay,” Sora says. “But you can't get me in trouble with Santa! It's almost Christmas, and I just got back on the nice list this year. Maybe.”

“Then let's go, fellows!” Jack says, walking towards the woods on one side of the graveyard.

“Come on, Riku,” Sora says, smiling and showing off his fangs. “I wanna show you Christmas Town.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Riku replies.

~*~*~*~

As soon as they pass through the portal in the woods, Jack takes off like a shot down the nearest hill, leaving Riku and Sora behind. Part of Riku registers this, but most of his attention is occupied by the sight of Christmas Town at the bottom of the hill. Everything around him and Sora - the town, the hill, and the surrounding trees - is covered in a blanket of snow. The buildings in town are lit up with lights of every color, and the faint strains of music drift up the hill from below.

“A world where it's always Christmas,” Riku says. “It looks amazing.”

“Do you like it?” Sora asks. Riku looks over at him; instead of the vampire costume for Halloween, Sora is wearing a black outfit with fuzzy white trim, looking just like a Halloween version of Santa. He's still got the fangs, though.

“Definitely,” Riku replies. “When did you change your costume?”

“It changes on its own when you go to a different holiday town, I think,” Sora says. “Your outfit changed, too.” Riku looks at himself again. He's wearing some sort of wooden soldier’s uniform, and his mouth, arms, and legs are jointed like a nutcracker doll’s. “It's fun, isn't it?”

“Actually, yeah,” Riku agrees. It's a little strange hearing the words leave his mouth, but watching Sora’s face light up in response makes up for it.

“That's awesome, Riku!” Sora beams. Yeah, it definitely makes up for it. “Now, let's go see Santa!” He takes Riku’s hand and leads them down the hill, chattering about his last trip to Christmas Town as they walk.

At the end of the main road is the most festive-looking industrial building Riku’s ever seen. Sora walks right up to the front door and opens it. Riku follows him inside.

There, in a cozy living room, is a short, round man in red and white, looking at the papers in his hands. It's Santa.

“Hello?” Sora says. Santa looks up.

“Sora? Is that you?” Santa asks. “I hope there's no trouble about. And this is…”

“This is Riku,” Sora says. “Jack’s tagging along somewhere, too, but I told him to behave himself. There's nothing dangerous like fighting going on, don't worry.” Santa’s eyes widen, alarmed. “I thought it would be cool if Riku could meet you, to help him get into the Christmas spirit this year.”

“If Jack’s here,” Santa says, putting his papers down and bustling towards the door, “then there’s sure to be trouble. _Especially_ this close to Christmas. I'm sorry Sora, but meeting your friend will have to wait until after I've dealt with Jack.” He scoots past Sora and Riku in the doorway and goes outside.

“Aww, I really wanted you to meet Santa,” Sora sighs, drooping despondently.

“Should we go help him find Jack?” Riku asks. “Since it’s our fault he’s here in the first place, and they don't seem to get along.”

“It's not that they don't get along,” Sora explains, un-drooping, though he's still not looking a Riku in the eye, “but Jack kind of tried to take over Christmas a few times, I think? I never really heard all the details, but most people probably wouldn’t want a Halloweeny Christmas.”

“Probably not,” Riku agrees. Making Santa mad and potentially Halloween-ifyng Christmas were even more things that put a person on the naughty list.

“I know how we can help Santa!” Sora says. “We can wrap presents for him.”

“I thought we were finding Jack,” Riku says.

“Santa’s good at handling that,” Sora replies, “I don't think Jack hardly ever causes trouble anymore.” Then, he grins at Riku. “Plus, I wanna show you how to work the present cannons. They're really fun.”

“How did you get back on the nice list, again?” Riku teases. Sora wrinkles his nose back cheerfully. “But I guess if we can help make up for the time he's losing while looking for Jack, then Santa can't be too mad at us.”

“That's the idea,” Sora says. “The cannons are this way.”

~*~*~*~

Sora leads him to the wrapping room, dodging elves and ducking around present machinery with an ease that suggests he's been here before. When they get to the room with the cannons, however, it's empty save for a single elf, staring fretfully at the console for the conveyor belt. There are no toys anywhere to be seen.

“Hey there,” Sora says to the elf. “We came to help wrap presents.”

“You'll have to wait,” the elf responds. “The present sorter in the next room over is broken, and we can’t wrap anything until it's fixed.”

“The sorter?” Riku asks.

“It divides the type of present according to what the kids asked for in their letters to Santa,” the elf says. “Otherwise you'd have things like tea sets going to kids who asked for laser guns and peanut brittle going to kids with severe allergies. Production is going to have to stop completely unless this is fixed soon, and we can't afford this much of a backup this close to the big day.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Sora asks.

“Santa was supposed to give the elves in the sorting room the diagram to fix it, but he hasn't come back yet.”

“Because he's looking for Jack,” Sora says.

“Jack Skellington is here?!” The elf jumps. “I'll go sound the alarm!” Sora winces.

“Wait, wait,” Riku says. The elf pauses in its jumping. “If Sora and I can fix the sorter machine for you while Santa is dealing with Jack, then you can keep making presents and everything will be fine, right?”

“Why, that will practically save Christmas!” the elf says.

“You heard the elf, Riku,” Sora says. “We have to save Christmas.”

“And this isn't just an excuse to mess around in Santa’s workshop?” Riku looks at Sora pointedly.

“Don't you want to save Christmas, Riku?” Sora asks him, clasping his hands together, fangs in a pout, eyes sparkling up at Riku. At Sora’s side, the elf’s eyes are sparkling up at Riku, too.

“...Okay,” Riku laughs. “Let's go save Christmas.”

~*~*~*~

Riku and Sora find the machine’s diagram from the stack of papers Santa had easily enough, but deciphering them to figure out what's wrong with the present sorter is a little trickier. Both the actual sorting apparatus and the console seem to be on the fritz, the algorithm on the console’s computer having reset once the machinery stopped.

“The broken part of the machine is up near the top, here,” an elf says, pointing to the spot on the diagram. “Normally we'd use the lift to reach it, but those won't work either until the computer’s up and running again. The panel with the reset button for the machinery is also up there, which again, we can't get to without the lifts.” Another two elves carry a short footstool over to the same location under the machine. It must be tough, Riku thinks, to be only two feet tall, though he also wonders why they don't have real ladders.

“It's okay,” Sora says. “I'll reach up there for you. Riku’s really good with computers, so he can help with that part.” He goes over to the machine, and stretches for the panel.

Sora stretches some more.

“I can't reach it, either.” Sora says, eventually.

“I'll get it,” Riku says. “You help with the console.”

“Riku…” Sora frowns, worrying at his lip with a fang.

“You'll be fine,” Riku says, making sure to smile at Sora.

“...Okay.” Sora says.

Riku reaches up and opens the panel. There are several switches and fuses within the main control panel, as well as access to another side panel with broken machinery. Power to the main panel is stopped, and one of the fuses is clearly out.

“There's a dead fuse you need to replace,” Riku says, turning back around, “and I need a screwdriver to open up this other panel.”

“Got it,” Sora says. “We won't turn the computer on until you're done with the fuse.”

One of the elves brings a screwdriver over to Riku, holding it over its head. Riku picks it up and gets to work. Behind the second panel is a set of tubes with a seesaw panel between them; something squishy is lodged underneath the middle panel, stopping up the gears underneath.

“There's something stuck in here,” Riku says. “It looks like some sort of stuffed animal. The system must have overheated and blown the fuse when it got stuck.” He turns the gears manually, until the toy is spat out into one of the tubes. “Got it. Let me close this up, then I'll put the new fuse in.” He does so, then gets down off the stool and calls to Sora again. “Okay, you can turn the computer on.”

“Turning on,” Sora calls back. Riku sees that the stuck toy is now on the bottom conveyor belt of the machine, looking rather worse for the wear. “It's giving me some sort of category error.”

“That sometimes happens if a toy doesn't fit into any category, or into too many at once,” an elf says. “It should have given us the option to manually sort it, in that case.”

“The toy got torn up by the gears,” Riku says, picking it up and walking over to Sora. “I think that's how it got stuck.”

“As long as it's out now,” the elf says, “we can continue the sorting algorithm from where we left off.”

“Uh, how do we do that?” Sora asks.

“You have to input the values of the last toy into size, weight, and destination according to the algorithm on the diagram,” the elf says, “so we can pack it into the sleigh in the right order for delivery. The raw present data should be on the computer screen.”

“This is math, isn't it?” Sora looks flatly at the computer.

“Don't you want to save Christmas, Sora?” Riku asks. Sora looks at Riku, then looks back at the computer.

“I need a pencil and some paper,” he says, puffing up his cheeks; it looks even more ridiculous with the vampire fangs. An elf hands him a candy cane pencil and a scrap of wrapping paper.

A few minutes later, Sora enters the numbers into the computer.

“I really hope this is right,” he says, pushing the button the start the machine again.

“You just took a test on this,” Riku replies. “I hope it's right, too.” The console beeps a few times, and then the machine starts to whirr to life.

“It's working!” Sora says. The elves shout in celebration.

“Now, what's going on in here?” A voice calls from behind. Riku and Sora turn to face the source. It's Santa again; Jack is following behind him, looking around the room with a curious grin.

“Sora and Riku got the sorter machine running again!” An elf says.

“Did you?” Santa replies. “Well, thank you very much, Sora and Riku.”

“No problem,” Sora says. “The machine couldn't figure out where to put this toy,” he continues, showing the stuffed animal to Santa, “and it got ripped and stuck in the sorter.”

“Well, we can't have that child without a present,” Santa says. “Let me see the tag, so I can see about making a replacement.” Sora holds the toy out to Santa, who looks at it, then recoils. “ _Jack_.”

“Yes, Mister Claws?”

“I thought I told you to leave the present making to me from now on,” Santa says, expression stern. “It's no wonder that doll broke my sorter.” He starts to lead Jack back out of the workshop, continuing to lecture the skeleton man.

“What kind of toy is it, anyway?” Riku asks Sora quietly as they follow the other two.

“It's a My Tiny…” Sora reads the tag. “I don't know how to pronounce that word. I think it's supposed to be a squid?” It does look awfully noodly. “I guess one of the tentacles got caught in the machine.”

“Did a kid really ask for that toy from Santa?” Riku wonders.

“But it's not one of mine!” Jack is still insisting, once they get back to Santa's parlor. “It looks like a very fun toy, I'll admit, but I didn't make it.”

“Let me find the little girl’s letter,” Santa says. “That will settle it.” He digs through a sack until he finds a particular letter, then begins to read aloud.

“Hm. To a Mr. Nicholas Claus,

“I hope the North Pole is sufficiently snowy for your taste, and that you are treating your reindeer kindly and giving your elves the proper workers’ benefits. I am writing to inform you that I have done my best to behave appropriately this year, both at home and at school. I would also like to note that the incident involving my birthday was last year, and I have promised my mother that I wouldn't do it again. As I have heard it is customary during the Christmas holiday for socially acceptable behavior to be compensated accordingly with candy or perhaps a small toy, I would like to request that you send me a My Tiny…

“Thank you for your understanding, signed.

“Well, then,” Santa says, blinking and putting the letter away again. “It seems the child really did ask for that particular toy. I owe you an apology, Jack.”

“Oh, it's alright, Sandy,” Jack says. “I'm just happy knowing there's a kid out there who appreciates that sort of thing. Maybe I could give you some ideas for a replacement toy?”

“Perhaps just this once,” Santa says. Jack grins wide. “ _Just_ this once.”

“That's a pretty unique kid,” Riku comments.

“I guess some kids like scary stuff,” Sora says.

“Now then, Sora,” Santa turns to face him. “What was it you were asking me about before all this started?”

“I wanted you to meet Riku, sir,” Sora says. “And to make sure he's on your list, since he's been really good this year.”

Oh, that.

“Sora, I'm pretty sure I'm not…” Riku says quietly.

“Riku…” Sora's frowning again.

“I mean, it's really obvious, isn't it?”

“It's not!” Sora shoots back.

“Well, it's very clear where your name is to me,” Santa says, holding one of long lists. Riku looks back at Santa. “You're right here on the nice list, just where you belong.”

“With all due respect,” Riku replies, “I'm not sure you're right.”

“You helped fix one of my present machines, didn't you?” Santa says. “I wouldn’t be able to deliver the right toys to the children who asked for them if you hadn't. And I'm not certain there would be anybody to deliver presents to at all if it hadn't been for yours and Sora’s efforts with the other events of this year.”

“That’s not the same,” Riku tries to protest. Did fighting to defeat someone terrible make up enough for helping them earlier? Did it make up for the collateral damage along the way? “Even if that's true, I still did a bunch of stuff that wasn't really… nice.”

“I believe all that was in a previous year, was it not?” Santa says. “It's just like that little girl who wrote to me asking for the scary doll.”

“I'm not sure what you mean,” Riku says.

“Each year, I check to see if children are naughty or nice,” Santa says. “Just like the nice children one year still have to behave the next year as well, if a child is naughty one year, they have a new chance the next year to improve their behavior. Being nice or naughty is not something inherent to you, Riku. It's something you work at a little bit each day of the year.” Riku swallows a lump suddenly forming in his throat. “Yes, you were very naughty two years ago. Last year was close, but you were on the naughty list due to the same technicality that put Sora on the naughty list that year. But I can say with certainty that this year, you were very nice. That's my final decision, and I do hope you think on it, Riku.”

“I don't know what to say,” Riku replies. “Thank you.”

“You can thank me after I've brought you and Sora some hot chocolate,” Santa says. “Jack, you can help me make the hot chocolate and give your ideas as to that girl’s replacement toy.”

“Oh boy!” Jack says. “That sounds so fun!” They leave for the kitchen, and Riku and Sora wait in the parlor.

“I've never gotten hot chocolate made by Santa personally,” Sora says, leaning into Riku’s side.

“Me neither,” Riku says, still quiet.

“Do you feel in more of a Christmas mood?” Sora asks, taking Riku’s hand and lacing their fingers together. Riku looks down at him; even under the shadow of his fuzz-lined hat, Sora’s eyes are bright.

“Maybe,” Riku smiles.

“Oh!” Sora says. “I can think of another thing that’s Christmassy.”

“What's that?”

“Mistletoe,” Sora says, pointing up. Riku looks up; attached to the lamp above their heads is a sprig of mistletoe. Riku looks back at Sora, who smiles and then tugs Riku down again to kiss him. “Merry Christmas.”

“It's not Christmas yet,” Riku says.

“Riku, it's _always_  Christmas here.”

“Okay. Merry Christmas, Sora.”

~*~*~*~

After they've had their hot chocolate and have romped around outside in the snow a little more, they get Jack back to Halloween Town and themselves back to Destiny Islands. By the time they've rowed back from the play island to the main one, it's nearly morning.

“Well, we're home,” Sora says. “I gotta get in bed before my mom wakes up.”

“Me too,” Riku says. “See you tomorrow.”

“Later today,” Sora smiles.

“Later today, then,” Riku smiles back.

~*~*~*~

After a few hours of sleep and breakfast, Riku wakes up again to go back to Sora’s house. They get the ornament supplies back out, and Riku starts working on his coconuts. Kairi arrives soon after and joins them.

“You look like you're feeling better,” she tells Riku.

“I'm pretty tired, actually,” he replies, “but yeah.”

“You look tired too, Sora,” Kairi grins. “What have you been up to?”

“I wanted to prove to Riku that Santa really exists,” Sora says.

“You went all the way to Halloween Town? Isn't that pretty far?”

“It was really fun, though,” Sora says. “You should see it sometime. Maybe when Santa isn't so busy.”

“You have to take me next year,” Kairi insists.

“Yeah, that sounds fun. Right, Riku?”

“Yeah,” Riku agrees. “Did you know that you get a different costume for each holiday on that world?”

“Riku turned into a werewolf and a nutcracker,” Sora says.

“Ooh, I wonder what I would be…” Kairi says.

“Oh, and if we go visit Ariel under the sea, we can see what you guys look like as merpeople,” Sora adds. “Or as lions, if we visit Simba, or…”

At the end of the day, Riku's made three ornaments for the Christmas trees to be hung up at his, Sora’s, and Kairi’s houses. For Kairi, he paints a waterfall that looks like the guard on her keyblade, as if it was drawn on a little sketchbook. For Sora, he paints a crown with a blue crystal and two intertwined hearts, light and dark. For his own tree, he paints a ship sailing back to port, the dawn rising behind the island.

~*~*~*~

On Christmas morning, Riku wakes up early. He leaves his room silently, creeping down the stairs and to the room with the fireplace. There's a stocking there, his name embroidered on the top and something hidden inside. He hasn't even _owned_  a Christmas stocking since he was nine.

Inside the stocking is a small, blue nutcracker, only a few inches long, a silver keychain attached to the top of its soldier’s hat. Also there is a folded note, which he opens to read.

Dear Riku,

Thank you again for helping fix the present sorter while I was away. I really don't know how we would have gotten everything completed in time for Christmas without the help from you and Sora. I also want to thank you for what I know must have been another long and difficult year fighting against those who would harm our children and our worlds. I hope that this keychain will help you in that fight, should you need to use your keyblade again. Please remember that you have done much more good than bad.

Santa Claus

Riku wipes at his eyes, then brings the keychain and the note back up to his room.

~*~*~*~

Later that day, Riku goes to Sora’s house, bringing the presents for Sora, his family, Kairi, and her family. He also brings the nutcracker keychain in his pocket, to show to Sora and Kairi. Everybody opens presents, eats Christmas lunch and cake together, and drinks hot chocolate and tries to sing Christmas songs.

“Sora, I don't understand how you got into an undersea musical when you're this off-key,” Riku says.

“It's not my fault,” Sora says, “it just happens sometimes.”

“That's why we need to visit under the sea together,” Kairi says.

“Yeah, he needs all the help he can get,” Riku comments. Sora sticks out his tongue at him.

“Let’s stop talking about this and talk about presents instead,” Sora says. “Did you get anything from Santa this year?”

“I got this,” Riku replies, pulling out the nutcracker keychain. “I haven't gotten to try it out yet, though, so I don't know what it looks like.”

“Oh hey, me too,” Sora says, showing Riku and Kairi a keychain with a little present at the end.

“You got a present for a present,” Kairi says. “That's so cute. This is what I got.” Her keychain has a little snowflake at the end.

“I guess everybody thought the same thing, huh,” Sora says. All their presents to each other had been keychains, as well. Riku had made Kairi one with a starfish and Sora one with a sun and moon.

“Well, it makes sense,” Riku says.

“Yep,” Kairi says. “And they're pretty, too.”

“You guys wanna try em out the next time we go to the play island?” Sora asks.

“You mean today?” Kairi responds.

“We definitely need to try these out today,” Riku says.

“Merry Christmas,” Sora says, hugging them both tight. “It isn't the same without you two.”

“Merry Christmas, Sora, Riku,” Kairi says.

“Merry Christmas,” Riku agrees.


End file.
